Improvement in harvesters



the aromatico i @einen tetes lgetraut@ffice Letters Patent No. 74,577', dated Febrary 18, 1868i` IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTERS.

uit; Stimm referat to it' tlgee Entert what mit noting part nf tte sans.

To ALL WHOM'IT MAY ooNoEEu: i l

Beit known that I, WILLIAM NEFF, ofCentre Hall, in the county of Centre, and State of Pennsylvania,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harvesting-Machines; and that the following lis a full,4 clear,l and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part ot'` this specification, in which vFigure 1 is a. side view of so much of the machine as will illustrate my invention. Figure 2 represents a topplan of the same. Figure 3 represents on an enlarged scale a section through the reel-gearing.

Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the separate figures, denote like partsof the machine in all cases. Y' f y My invention consists, iirst, in the arrangement of devices byvwhich the cutting apparatus is raised up and let down; and secondly, `it consists in the device for gauging the drag-bar in one direction, whilst it may swing in the other direction to allowfthe cutters to rise; Vand finally, it consists inl the gearing for driving the reelarms at different velocities in diiierent portions of their sweep, and-mainly to cause Athem to run slower when entering the grain, so that their velocity will not beat or thresh out the grain` by striking so hard, 'but be accel; eratedwhen sweeping the platform, or after passing the cutters. l

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe'the same with rcferenceto the drawings. ,l y A represents a'lnan frame, to the front portion of which a V-shaped piece of iron, ala, is attached by loops or dead-eyes at b 6, and to the ends of this V-shaped piece, as at c c, the drag-bar :Disconnected by loops or dead-eyes, so as to turn towards or from the main frame. To the under side of the main frame there is attached a. gag-bar or arm'd, which projects outward and underneath the dragJJar, and prevents it from dropping below zr given line or a defined line, and the drag-bar is attached to this gag-bar by a. curved pivot, e, so that the drag'- bar mayroll or rock towards the main frame, and backon the gag-bar again whenthe irregularities in theV -gronnd wouldcause such a. motion. To the rear end of the drag-bar B the finger-bar c is attached in any of the usual well-known ways.y Underneath or behind the finger-bar c there is a. rod,f, the outer end of which is bent into a crank form, as at g, and has upon it a supporting and raisiiig-wheel,I la. On theI inner end ofthe rod or shaft f, and next to the mainframe, there is fastened# a rocker-lever, z', which projectsboth in front and in rear of the line of the rod or shaft'f, and curved upward as in iig. 1. The rear portion of this rocker-lever i is connected by a-link,j, to the mainframe or to a. projecting arm thereon, and the front portion of Vsaid rocker lever is connected by 4a flexible rope or chain, 'lc, to 4an are, Z, on a. handflever, D, which is pivoted at m, and then extends upward'and towards the driver or c onductors seat, so thai-.thel occupant of the seat may seize and operate it. A The rod or shaftf is connected by loops to the finger-banc, and bythe connection just abovev described, the lifting of the inner ond of the finger-bar turns said shaft or rod, and, through the wheel z on its lshank of the 'rcel-arm o; the shaft or shank of the latter, o, being hollow,

outcrbent end, it raises the outer end of said finger-bar. Thus a simple lever operation at one end of bar raises up and lets down both ends oi' it simultaneously. The main frame A is su the finger; pportedupon two carrying; wheels E E, and by the axle F, and the cutters may be driven from these wheels E E by gearing, belts', 8vo., in the common way. The reel-arms u o are driven each by its own gear, so that their revolving motions may not interfere one with the other, and so that also they may enter the gai'n at less velocity, and consequently with less liability to thresh ont the grain, than they have at other portions of their rotations, as follows: Gis a reelsupport, arranged on the front end o f the drag-bar B, and inclining rearward. Upon a. shaft or journahp, suitably supported in the reel-arm G, there is arranged a pulley, g, around which, and around a piilley, r, on the hub of one of the main wheels E, passes an endless belt, s, said belt passing in its course in contact with directing-pnlleys, as seen at t t, to keep it taut. Upon the sha-ftp (tig. 3) there is a gear-wheel, u, and adjacent to it, on the same shaft, another though smallergear v, both eccentrica-ily hung upon theshait, and their greatest cccentricity being diametrically opposite to each other. Th'ese two eccentricgears work into two similar gears w eccentricallyhung, one upon the shaft or shank of one of the reel-arms n, and the other upon the shaft or and that of the other arm passing` through it. When those portions of the gears that extend the least distance from their shafts n-re in mesh, the motion of the reel-arm worked by them will be slow, and this motion will increase just as the cogs are mol-eend more remote from the centre of motion. The gen1-sare so arranged that their slowest motion shell be just as the reel-arms enter the standing grain to drow it to the cutters. After this is done, each arm maybe accelerated in its movement until it comes around again to where it is to enter and draw in the grain to the cutters.. y this means the quick motion ofthe entire circuit is kept up, without striking 'the grain so hard as to beat out the grains. l

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new, is-

The' arrangemeut'of the rocker-lever 'L' on the sheftf, and its connectionv to the main frameby a link, j, :md to the lever D by a. exible connection, k, so that operating the lever .D will raise and lower the finger-bar et both ends simultaneously, substantially as described. I

I also elnim, in combination with a. hinged drag-bar-B, that can roll to and from the main frame, the gagbnr d, connected thereto by the curved pivote, as und for the purpose substantially as described.

' I also claim .the reel-arms, working in the same circuit, but at diiferentvveloeities, and independent of each other alt different portions thereof, when driven through eecentrieally-hung circular gears, substantially as described.

WILLIAM NEFF.

Witnesses; l

ALEX. SHANNON, WM. WOLF. 

